Soldier's Hope
by JapaneseRedWolf
Summary: With the craziness of the Hydra infiltration behind them, Steve and wife Nicole try to relax and raise a daughter. But what happens when she turns out to be just like them? Sequel to "The German and the Soldier" All characters are property of Marvel
1. Prologue

Prologue: Birth

Steve whined anxiously as he waited for a nurse to return to the hospital room. His friend Sam shook his head, not understanding why he was so upset. Finally a nurse came in, but she certainly wasn't alone. The nurse wheeled in a beautiful brunette woman, her green eyes shining as she looked up at the soldier from the little pink bundle in her arms. Sam gave Steve a shocked look, but the blond didn't notice.

"Nicole?"

"It's a girl Steve. Ve have a daughter." the brunette smiled, sending Sam reeling from the glow she had about her. "She had both our eyes."

Steve tensed as the nurse carefully handed him the baby, making her cry out as she was taken from her mother's warmth. But she soon settled down in her father's arms, nuzzling into her chest as she listened to his heartbeat. Sam just rubbed his neck, not sure if he was intruding on an intimate moment. However it was put to rest as Nicole gave him a gentle smile, shocking him with the kindness in it.

"Sam, it's great to finally meet you." she smiled. "I'm Steve's vife, Nicole, und zhis is our daughter. So Steve, vhat should ve name her?"

Steve smiled. "Elizabeth Nicole."

"I like it." Nicole gripped the side of the bed, struggling to her feet. The nurse fussed at her as she trudged over to her husband, but the German plain ignored her, sitting at his side.

"Tony vants us to come stay at zhe tower. He has a nursery und everyzhing already vaiting."

"Oh okay… Wait, what?!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: 3 Months Later

Steve groaned as he listened to Tony plead with Nicole, begging her to let him buy things for the baby yet again. He had already furnished an entire nursery, complete with a virtual ceiling and walls to show different things to sooth and calm the baby. On top of that he had gotten many clothes and outfits, and even toys for the baby. Quite frankly, Nicole was tired of it.

"Mein Gott Tony! Nein! Not anymore!"

"But Nicole please~?"

The woman sighed, carrying Elizabeth -now affectionately called Lizzie by her father- over to Steve to hold. He chuckled and took the child, bouncing her in her hands. She squealed happily, oblivious to her "uncle" Tony getting threatened by her mother.

"Such a cutie! I know you're going to grow up to be a beauty!" Steve gave the girl an eskimo kiss, making her giggle. He smiled, bouncing her again as Nicole walked over. "She's being so spoiled."

"Vell she is our first." Nicole chuckled. "Und she is adorable."

"I bet she knows it too! Don't you Lizzie?" the girl squealed in delight. "Yup she does!"

Tony laughed, rubbing his bruised arm. "Of course she does! We spoil her too much for her to think otherwise!"

"Ve? Nein, _jou_ spoil her zoo much! I vould prefer her zo have a more humble upbringing but nein~! Jou vant zo give her even zhe craziest zhings zhat she _doesn't_ need!" Nicole glared at him. "Jou are going zo corrupt my daughter vith materialistic needs!"

"I'm not corrupting her!"

"Jou're not alvays going zo be around zo do zhese zhings for her! Vhat are jou going zo do vhen jou've corrupted her so much she turns out zo be a total brat? I'll never forgive jou!"

Steve rolled his eyes, carrying his daughter out of the room. Lizzie laughed happily, reaching up to grab his face.

"Daddy~!"

The man froze, looking down at his daughter in shock, which prompted her to repeat the word again. Nicole was just approaching when he darted toward the elevator, heading for Bruce's lab. His wife shouted in confusion as she followed, just barely missing the elevator doors. But she soon joined him in the box, startling their daughter when she slid in through the emergency hatch.

"Vhat zhe heil Steve?!"

He looked at her with a scared look on his face, leaving her to follow when the elevator stopped. He quickly carried his daughter to Bruce, surprising the man when he looked up and saw the terrified looking soldier standing there.

"Bruce I want you to check Lizzie!"

"What? Is something wrong?"

"She's _talking_ Bruce. She called me 'daddy'! _Twice_!"

Nicole felt her stomach twist as she thought about that. Their daughter was only three months old, she shouldn't be talking yet! "Vhat?"

Bruce quickly took Lizzie from her father, carrying her over to a table. He gave her parents an apologetic look before getting a needle, and proceeded to take a blood sample from the girl. But they we all surprised when she merely whimpered, not crying as a typical baby would.

"Just let me run some tests on this. I'm sure I already know what's going on, but I want to be sure."

"Vhat do jou zhink it is?" Nicole walked over to pick up her daughter, gently wiping the blood away from where the needle had been inserted. Steve carefully put a band-aid on the spot, giving it a gentle kiss before looking at his friend.

"Bruce?"

The man sighed. "You've both been injected with the super soldier serum, or in Nicole's case the DNA of a super soldier. DNA being the key word here. Both of your DNA has mutated to perfection, and half of each parent's DNA is what is passed on. Either way she will had gotten a full Super Soldier gene, so her fast development may very well be a result of having inherited the genes from you two. This may be perfectly normal for her."

Steve frowned. "Man… So she's going to be like us?"

"More than likely, yes." Bruce shrugged. "I'll know more after I test her blood though, so for now you two should go look into schooling because I think she'll need it earlier than you expected."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Growth

Nicole sighed as she read over Bruce's diagnostics of Lizzie's blood testing. Indeed she had inherited the Super Soldier gene, and it was the cause of her fast development. It was especially affecting her mental state, speeding up her mental development faster than her physical. Thankfully Tony had gotten plenty of stuff for them to start teaching her.

By the time she was a year old she could read on a third grade level.

When she turned two she was handling fractions with ease.

When she was three she could speak as well as a teenager, and even had a bit of her "Mutti's" German accent.

By the time she turned five Steve and Nicole had all but given up on keeping up with her expanding thirst for knowledge, turning her education over to Bruce and Tony's capable hands. She also started doing other things, and under Natasha's guidance she was a perfect gymnast and prima ballerina by the time she was seven. It was on her eighth birthday that Steve and Nicole told Lizzie the truth about her heritage, and her Super Soldier DNA.

"That's why we wanted to wait before we started taking you out to do things with us." Steve tussled his daughter's hair as she sat on his knee. "We didn't want to worry about you."

Nicole smiled at her little girl. "Ve're in danger all zhe time, so ve didn't vant to put you in it too."

Lizzie shook her head. "But Mutti, daddy, I vould be fine, vouldn't I?"

"We don't know that honey, that's why we were so worried."

"But you're our daughter, so ve zhink it's time you start training. Aunt Natasha is going to help you learn to fight."

The girl looked confused. "Fight? Like you two?"

"Ja," Nicole picked her up, holding her on her hip. "Uncle Thor is going to make you a shield, but ve're going to let you practice vith my old one until you get the hang of it."

Steve smiled. "Do you know what you would like on your shield Lizzie?"

She looked thoughtful, her little hand going to the Iron Cross her Mutti gave her. "Mutti's cross… und Daddy's colors?"

Her parents exchanged a look, chuckling. "Alright Honig, vhatever you vant."

"We'll tell Uncle Thor, okay?"

"Vait!" Lizzie put on an upset look. "I vant to draw it so he'll get it right!"

Her daddy laughed. "OK, OK you can draw it!"

"Yay!"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Her Sixteenth

Lizzie huffed and tried to keep up with her uncle Clint in the training room, fighting hard to match his speed with the bow and arrow. He laughed at her, finally stopping the targets but ducking when she shot one at him instead.

"I vasn't done!"

"Well I am," he straightened. "I'm too old for this~"

"Stop complaining. Daddy is vay older than you und he never complains!"

"Well not all of us have the super soldier serum to keep us healthy!" he smacked her shoulder. "So stop complaining about my complaining."

She rolled her blue-green eyes at him, flicking her long dirty blonde hair over her shoulder. "Ja, ja…"

Clint laughed once again, leading her out of the room to the elevator. "Oh cheer up! It's your birthday remember? How old are you again, six right?"

Now it was her turn to punch his shoulder. "No! I'm sixteen!"

"Don't let you dad hear that." he motioned to her white, red trimmed t-shirt with her father's shield printed on it. "He might start crying."

She chuckled, reaching into one of the pockets of her blue cargo pants to grab a nut bar. "Nah of course he von't. Mutti might though."

"Oh yeah that's true." he let her exit ahead of him as the doors opened. The girl kicked off her red combat boots as she pulled out her cell phone, texting her Aunt Natasha to see where she was. Her Iron Cross glinted in the light as she started for the kitchen, but her Uncle Bruce suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stopped her.

"Hey Elizabeth come to the lab with me!"

"Huh? Not right now Uncle Bruce I vant a drink." she tried to go around him but was stopped once again. "Oh come on Uncle B I'm really thirsty."

"No you have to come with me." her grabbed her arm, tugging her toward the elevator. "You, uh, need to have a check-up before this evening!"

She narrowed her eyes, taking up that infamous German glare she inherited from her mother. "Uncle Bruce I am going to the kitchen."

"But-" she jerked away, heading for the room. She wasn't surprised to find her Uncle Tony and Aunt Natasha arguing over party details, but they both looked embarrassed as she passed them. She simply ignored them, grabbing a soda before heading back out to Bruce, but she did pause in the doorway.

"Don't forget I like chocolate guys."

"Uh, right…"

The girl giggled and went to join her uncle in the elevator, heading down to the lab. He smiled slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose before he stepped out into his lab. She followed quietly, trying to not slip on the tile floor. She looked over all the tools and gadgets laying around, and smiled when she saw him get a familiar chart. And after about twenty minutes of physical exams she given a clean bill of health, though he did seem concerned about her six inch growth spurt and thirty pound weight gain, though he wrote the latter off as muscle gain. The girl didn't have an ounce of fat anywhere on her slim, muscular body, and her fierce training regiment could account for most of it.

"So how are you feeling Elizabeth? Anything weird I should know about?" he checked her reflexes, nearly losing an arm in the process. "Anything you can't explain?"

She shrugged. "No, nothing. Well, actually now that I think about it I have been feeling a little odd when I'm training recently."

That caught his attention, his hand pausing over a drawer handle. "Odd how?"

"Well you know how when you fight your adrenaline starts to pump? Well whenever that happens my head starts to pound and my body starts feeling funny." she tapped her cheek. "My muscles and bones start hurting really bad like they're… Like they're trying to stretch or something."

Bruce smiled slightly, opening a different drawer and pulling out a small vial filled with a purplish liquid. "I thought you might start showing those signs. The same thing happened to your mother once, it's just your body accepting and activating your super soldier gene. Next time it happens just use this: it works like an EpiPen, all you have to do is stick this end in your neck, not your leg your _neck_, aim for the base, and it should help ease the pain. But listen, you must _not_ stop your adrenaline rush, you have to fight through it and keep it going."

"And it'll do what exactly? The adrenaline I mean."

"It'll force your body to change, adapt it to the gene. That's why Steve and Nicole have trained you so hard, to make you strong enough to go through it."

"Ah…" she rubbed her neck, slipping the vial into her pocket, but looking up when he reached into the first drawer and retrieved a small present. He smiled and handed it to her, tussling her hair before he got up and started for the elevator, just in time for JARVIS to signal a red alert. The two exchanged a laugh, rushing into the elevator and letting it take them to the top floor. Once there they stepped through the doors and into a large, frilly pink party that made Lizzie wrinkle her nose in disgust. But when she caught her father's eyes and saw the tears welling up there she smiled, walking over to hug him.

"Daddy don't cry…"

Nicole snickered, patting her husband on the back. "He's fine Lizzie, don't vorry about him."

The girl smiled, looking around at everyone, then down at the present Bruce had given her. "How about cake first?"

"Yeah, alright." Everyone gathered around, singing the birthday song to her. Lizzie blushed, fussing at them for dragging it out longer than necessary. Finally, after the cake was decimated, they settled down for presents. Lizzie gleefully opened all of them, pleasantly surprised by some of them:

Bruce's present: a pair of technical sunglasses with JARVIS tech uploaded into the lenses.

Natasha's present: a pair of small, M1911A Pistols and some throwing knives.

Clint's present: a quiver with shiny new arrows, designed with the same tech as his.

Tony's present: A brand new Lexus with all kinds of upgrades including JARVIS tech, weapons, and tons of other things.

Nicole's present: her customized Harley Davidson, cleaned up and tuned up.

Steve and Thor exchanged a glance, the Asgardian giving a frown as he handed her a green and black wrapped present. "Odin… sends his regards..."

Odin's present: a gold bracelet with a peculiar blue gem on it…

Finally only Steve and Thor were left, Steve approaching her first. He handed her a soft bundle, leaving her to unwrap it. In the center of the bundle was a pair of navy blue combat boots with rockets in the heel, as well as a black utility belt. The cloth that had been wrapped around the shoes and belt consisted of kevlar and steel infused black cargo pants, and a top of the same material with a metal strip on the back. The shirt itself was red, with white sleeves and a white star over the left bust, and two white stripes from the star across the right bust. It was a uniform, she realized, and it meant something very important.

She had proven herself to be capable of fighting alongside her parents.

And then there was only Thor left. He smiled at her, handing her a round package. She opened it without hesitation, grinning ear to ear when she saw it was something she had been waiting for since she was eight.

In her hands was her own, personal shield, made of the same metal as her mother's. It was almost identical to it, with an Iron Cross in the center. But instead of the Black, Red, Gold, Lizzie's shield went Red, White, Blue, just like she had hoped.

"Oh thank you everybody! I love it!" she smiled, giving everyone a hug. "Thank you all."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: That Vial

Lizzie smiled as she practiced with her new shield in the training room, pleased to find it easy for her to handle as she jumped, flipped, and twisted with it, also pleased that her new uniform was easy to move in, even if they were too big on her. The girl moved gracefully through the fighting styles, trying to adapt them to her shield. And just as she had found the right one to start with, it happened.

Lizzie groaned as her head started to pound, her vision going blurry. But instead of stopping as she had done before, she reached into one of the pockets on her belt and retrieved the vial Bruce had given her. With little thought she pressed it to her neck, hissing in pain as she felt it spread through her system. But she didn't focus on it long, instead forcing herself to fight through the pain until the adrenaline faded from her.

She didn't hear her father enter the room, looking for her, nor did she hear his shout when he saw the blood running from her neck. But instead of rushing to her side Steve paused, examining that wound.

Wait, what wound? Her neck was completely healed.

The man became confused, that is, until he saw the broken vial on the floor, and fear leapt into his heart. However he still didn't move, not until he saw her fall to her knees, screaming in pain. Her screams alerted everyone else to her condition, making them all rush to the training room. Nicole looked on in worry as her daughter fell to her side, clutching her head as she screamed. No one dared to move until her screams stopped, and then her parents were the first to her side. Steve about started to cry when he saw that his daughter's body had fully adapted to the super soldier gene, filling out her uniform just as he had expected it would. Nicole pouted at her daughter, reaching down to check her pulse when-

'"Ah!" Lizzie sat straight up, her skin covered in sweat and her eyes glossy and confused. She looked around for a moment before getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "Yo…"

Steve shook his head, standing beside his daughter, chuckling when he saw that his wife was now only an inch taller than her. Nicole didn't like that, kicking her husband's shin and watching him hop around on one leg before looking back at her daughter.

"Lizzie are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh yeah I'm fine. I feel great!" she rubbed her neck. "I honestly feel fine."

Steve glared half-heartedly at his wife as his shin finally stopped hurting. "Hey Bruce what was in that vial?"

The doctor smiled. "A stabilizer I made from your and Nicole's blood. I figured Elizabeth hadn't fully reacted to the gene yet, so when she told me about how she had started feeling weird when her adrenaline started pumping I thought it best to give to her."

"Und you didn't inform us, vhy?" Now it was Nicole's turn to give him that terrifying German glare. "Don't you zhink it vould have been useful information to give her parents?"

"Of course, but it just slipped my mind when that red alert went off yesterday."

"That's not an excuse!"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: I Can Fight!

Lizzie smiled as she polished her shield, listening to her parents argue with the others about her training, and whether or not she was ready to work in the field with them. Tony was currently in a headlock, still fussing with Steve even then. Nicole shook her head, yelling at them in German, while Natasha tried to calm her. Finally the girl got up and walked over, silencing them with a scoff.

"Uh guys, don't you think I should decide? After all it vill affect me the most."

Steve growled. "No!"

Nicole glared at him. "She is strong enough Steve!"

"I'm not letting her!"

"Get over it! She is mein daughter zoo!" the other exchanged looks as the woman's German accent came back in full force. "She est strong enough zo fight! Let her come vith us, und she'll prove her strength! Jou can nicht keep her heir zo be a housevife!"

"I'm not doing that! I just want to make sure she is ready so she doesn't get hurt!"

Thor shook his head. "Brother Steve I do not think there is need to worry. The maiden is quite strong!"

Natasha nodded. "I taught her so I know she is."

Bruce pulled his glasses off. "She really is. Besides Steve, we've all seen her train."

Clint put a hand on her shoulder. "You're out numbered Capt."

The man pouted, obviously upset. "But…"

Lizzie smiled and hugged him. "Hey, daddy I know you don't vant me to grow up any faster than I did, but it's time you let me join you."

"Aw…" he huffed, but kissed the top of her head. "Fine… But you get so much as a dislocated arm and you're restricted to the house."

"Fine." she grinned. "But I'm sure you von't have to vorry about me. I'm strong like my daddy~"

"Hey vhat about your Mutti?!" Nicole looked hurt. "I had to give birth to you! You better say you got it from me too!"

"Of course Mutti~" she smiled. "Ich liebe dich."

"Ich liebe dich auch Honig." Nicole went to hug her, but snarled when an alarm went off.

Steve frowned, looking down at his daughter. "Well, here you go…"

"Sweet! So vhere to?!" Lizzie grinned, picking up her shield to put on her back.

"Slow down there tiger," Tony checked the computer. "It's some more ex-SHIELD bastards."

Bruce walked over. "Looks like they've got some A.I.M. robots with them."

Steve growled, taking off to get his uniform. "Let's go!"

Nicole took off after him, but the others were surprised when Lizzie walked out onto the balcony. She went straight to the edge, making the others follow in shock.

"Lizzie!"

"What are you doing?!"

She smirked, hopping up on the rail. "Gotta catch my ride."

Natasha saw her lock a pouch on her belt, the one she had her cell phone in. "What? Who did you-"

They gasped and dashed over when she jumped, but were relieved when they saw she had been caught by Sam. The man laughed at her, but she only grinned and let him carry her toward their target.

Boy, were her parents in for a surprise.


End file.
